Drizzt
Member
City News Service
March 25, 2003 Tuesday
LENGTH: 393 words
HEADLINE: Police Seize Cache of Thousands of Illegal Gun Parts
BYLINE: By MASON STOCKSTILL, City News Service
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
BODY:
More than 30,000 gun parts that could have been put together to make hundreds of illegal weapons were seized in Chatsworth, officials said today.
The gun parts, found in several containers behind a business, were recovered after two Los Angeles police officers followed a lead that came out of an otherwise uneventful traffic encounter.
"Here we had two of our (narcotics) officers making a routine traffic stop who, using their sixth sense, came up with the score of their lives," said police Chief William Bratton.
The man police believe was stockpiling the weapons has not been arrested, though officers have located and interviewed him.
On Friday, LAPD officers Mike Coogle and Luke Walden stopped two known drug users and obtained consent to search their vehicle.
Inside, the officers found several Uzi submachine guns -- illegal in California -- and asked the suspects where they got them.
The suspects told Coogle and Walden they had heard about a container behind a business at 9825 Mason Ave. in Chatsworth, where thousands of gun parts were being stored, and that several people had breached.
Officers Coogle and Walden told their supervisors, and before long the LAPD and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents had visited the site and seized the weapons.
"This proactive police work, there's no doubt in my mind, is responsible for saving lives and keeping illegal guns off the streets," said Mayor Jim Hahn.
Lt. Steven Nielsen of the LAPD's gun unit said the suspect believed to have stockpiled all the gun parts -- an immigrant in the country since he was 11 -- has cooperated with investigators.
He has not been arrested because the investigation is ongoing, Nielsen said, and firearms cases often are complicated.
"When you're dealing with the large, huge numbers that we're dealing with today, it's a very complex investigation -- that if we jump into it too quickly it could taint our investigation and we might not be able to get all the proper charges filed on the individual," Nielsen said.
He did not reveal why the suspect had such a large cache of weapons, but said there was no evidence of any militia or terrorism link.
City officials declared the bust a victory.
"These are guns that will never have the chance to take a life in our city because they are now in our possession," Bratton said.
March 25, 2003 Tuesday
LENGTH: 393 words
HEADLINE: Police Seize Cache of Thousands of Illegal Gun Parts
BYLINE: By MASON STOCKSTILL, City News Service
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
BODY:
More than 30,000 gun parts that could have been put together to make hundreds of illegal weapons were seized in Chatsworth, officials said today.
The gun parts, found in several containers behind a business, were recovered after two Los Angeles police officers followed a lead that came out of an otherwise uneventful traffic encounter.
"Here we had two of our (narcotics) officers making a routine traffic stop who, using their sixth sense, came up with the score of their lives," said police Chief William Bratton.
The man police believe was stockpiling the weapons has not been arrested, though officers have located and interviewed him.
On Friday, LAPD officers Mike Coogle and Luke Walden stopped two known drug users and obtained consent to search their vehicle.
Inside, the officers found several Uzi submachine guns -- illegal in California -- and asked the suspects where they got them.
The suspects told Coogle and Walden they had heard about a container behind a business at 9825 Mason Ave. in Chatsworth, where thousands of gun parts were being stored, and that several people had breached.
Officers Coogle and Walden told their supervisors, and before long the LAPD and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents had visited the site and seized the weapons.
"This proactive police work, there's no doubt in my mind, is responsible for saving lives and keeping illegal guns off the streets," said Mayor Jim Hahn.
Lt. Steven Nielsen of the LAPD's gun unit said the suspect believed to have stockpiled all the gun parts -- an immigrant in the country since he was 11 -- has cooperated with investigators.
He has not been arrested because the investigation is ongoing, Nielsen said, and firearms cases often are complicated.
"When you're dealing with the large, huge numbers that we're dealing with today, it's a very complex investigation -- that if we jump into it too quickly it could taint our investigation and we might not be able to get all the proper charges filed on the individual," Nielsen said.
He did not reveal why the suspect had such a large cache of weapons, but said there was no evidence of any militia or terrorism link.
City officials declared the bust a victory.
"These are guns that will never have the chance to take a life in our city because they are now in our possession," Bratton said.
:banghead:
